Sheet-pile support and guide



April 15 1924.

E. F. DUDLEY SHEET FILE SUPPORT AND GUIDE Filed March 5. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet l April" 15 1924.

E. F. DUDLEY SHEET FILE SUPPORT AND GUIDE Filed March 5. 1921 6%? I Z it? 4&5 a 19 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Pateiiited Apr. 15, 1924.

UNITED STATES r oFFicE.

EDWARD F. DUDLEY.

F OAK PARK. ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO HIIBLE PRINTING OF ILLINOIS.

SHEET-FILE SUPPORT AND GUIDE.

Application filed March 3, 1921. Serial No. 449,509.

To all whom i!- 7l?.(.l-]/ concern:

Be it known that I, EmvAnn F. DUDLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oak Park. in the county of Cook and State U of Illinois. have invented certain new and useful Improvements-in Sheet-Pile Supports and GuidesQof which the following is a specification.

It is old in the art of printing-presses to to support a pile or stack of paper or similar sheets and feed the support and sheets slowly upwardly to compensate for removal of the uppermost sheets, thereby ai ways maintaining the top of the pile at sub- 1 stantially an unvaried elevation and in cooperative relation with some kind of a sheet transportation or conveying appliance, such for example as a suction-feeder.

This invention relates to constructions W which render possible and which facilitate the positioning of a new or reserve pile of sheets in the machine preliminary to the exhaustion of the active pile and ready to be shifted into operative position immediately upon the removal of the last sheet of the pile undergoing depletion.

The invention is particularly adapted for employment in the type of sheet feeding mechanism specified. but it is not necessarily limited or confined to such specific use, since its principles of construction and mode of operation with slight changes may be advantageously employed in sheet delivery mechanisms for printing-presses and similar machines.

Another feature of the invention resides in improved pile guides or gauges which are active through the full depth of the pile regardless of the original height of the 49 latter. 1

In the accompanying drawings. forming a part of this specification, and throughout the several views of which like reference characters refer to the same parts a pre- 1 ferred and desirable embodiment of the invention has been illustrated, and to such drawings reference Should be the successiye nection with the following detailed description of the construction and mode of operation of such device.

Inthis drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the appliance;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same with parts broken away;

Figure 3 is a vertical cross-section on line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the details of constructionof one of the sheet pile guides or gauges and its supportin block; and

Figures 6 and 7 indicate t e manner 0 supporting the pile-board on the upright conveyer-chains, Figure 7 being a bottom plan view of one of the supporting lugs for such board, which coacts with one of the sprocket-chains.

Referring to these drawings, it will be seen that the improved and novel appliance includes end frame members 11 and 12 (Figures 1 and 2) supportin in suitable bearings a revoluble, rear sha t 13 equipped with a pair ofsprocket-wheels 14: spaced apart a considerable distance and located near such frame portions. llhese sprocket-wheels are fitted with a pair of coacting vertical sprocket-chains 15, 15 passing around sprocket-wheel's 16, 16 on a shaft 17 parallel to and some distance below the upper shaft and revoluble in appropriate bearings in the frame.

At the front of the structure there is a similar upper shaft 18 fitted with a pair of sprocket-wheels 19, 19 spaced apart on the shaft a distance slightly greater than that between the sprocket-wheels 14, 14 to permit the insertion and withdrawal of the sheet pile supporting-boards as will be readily understood from the remainder of the construction.

In similar manner these latter sprocketwheels are provided with upright endless sprocket-chains 21, 21 coacting with a pair of sprocket-wheels 22, 22 on a front lower shaft 23, appropriately journaled in the had in coir-xframe work These four upright chains or conveyers are adapted to support the board or boards carrying the pile or piles of paper sheets, and, to this end, the machine is supplied with a plurality of such file-boards 24, both views of Figure 2 and I igure 3 illustratin 1 two of them, each having two rear outstanil ing suplporting lugs or cars 25, spaced apart tie proper distance to fit into the apertures of the back chains 15, 15 and having also two front projecting supporting ears or lugs 26, 26 s )aced apart the correct amount to fit in the ioles of the links of the forward chains 21, 21, the under face of each of such projecting members being recessed shown in Fi ures 6 and 7 to receive parts of the links and thus prevent unintentional dislodgment or displacement of the board.

It is, of course, necessary to operate such chains simultaneously and equally in small increments to compensate, by raising the board or table slowly and progressively, for the successive and stead removal of the topmost sheets from the pile.

To this end an oscillatory drive-shaft 31, operated in any approved manner, is connected by a link 32 to a bell-crank 33 connected by a. link 34 to a rock-arm 35 oscillatory on a properly journaled worm shaft 36 and equipped with a pawl 37 coactin with a ratchet-Wheel 38 fixed to the shaft.

Obviously the oscillation of shaft 31 effects the small step by step movements of shaft 36 and these are transmitted to the several sprocket-chains by worms 39 and 41 on shaft 36 meshing with worm-wheels 4-2 and 43, respectively, on the lower shafts 17 and 23.

To permit a more rapid hand-operated actuation of the chains, as may be desired upon shifting into position a new pile of sheets to replace an exhausted one, shaft 36 is equipped with a normally-inactive handle 44 loose on the shaft and which may be operatively connected to the latter by moving it lengthwise thereon to cause a pin 45 projecting transversely from the shaft to fit in a notch or recess 46 of the handle hub.

The sprocket-chains are of sufficient length so that when the stock of sheets on the upper board 24 nears exhaustion, a second supply board loaded with a new pile may he slipped in under the upper board an its supporting lugs or ears readily caused to engage and be sustained by the chain links.

When the last sheet has been taken from the top board, the operator removes the latter. and by means of the handle 44 quickly and easily elevates the underlying p operative position. By thus placing the new board and its pile in position before it is really needed,

he intoamar? the workman can save time in the replacement of piles or stacks of sheets and the machine can conse uently be run with greater economy and elliciency.

Guides or gauges are required to keep the sheets of the pile in proper alignment or register and it is convenient to so construct them that they will automatically shift position and not interfere with the gradual rise of the pile supporting board while the sheets of the lower ortion of the stack are being removed individually one after the other.

As is clearly shown in Figures 1 and 3,

the edges of the sheets toward the printingpress are kept in register by a )au of appropriately-mounted, upright guides 47 and 48, the position of which in no way conflicts with the upward travel of the pile supporting board or boards.

The opposite edges of the sheets are maintained in correct register by a pair of bent inclined guide-bars 49 and 51 each bin ed at its upper end at 52 (Figure 5% to a )ar 53 supported and adjustably Silt. able in a block 54 mounted and shiftable as to its position along a su porting bar 55 fastened at its opposite ends to the frame of the appliance.

Element 54 has a thumb-screw 61 adapted to clamp the three parts 53, 54 and 55 ri idly together after they have been properly ad usted.

As is shown in Figure 5 each'gauge member 4901' 51 has a projecting pin 56 adapted to bear against an edge of a downwardly bent end 57 of bar 53 to limit the descent of the gauge. whereby it will normally be in the inclined relation shown in Figure 2.

Supporting bar 55 also carries two other adjustable blocks 58, 59 on each of which a. sloping or slanting gauge or guide 62 is directly hinged or pivoted and limited as to downward swinging by one of its end edges engaging beneath bar 55, as shown in Figure 3. One of such guide or gauge bars is used for each end of the pile.

When the sheet pile board approaches its upper limit of travel to discharge in sequence the sheets forming the tion of its stack, it engages the lower ends of the several inclined pivoted pile guides or gauge bars and swings them gradually upwardly automatically, at the same time, however, permitting them to fully perform thetiir functions until the last sheet is delivere Upon removal of such upper pile-board from the machine the gauge bars automatically rock down to the positions illustrated in the several figures, such downward swinging, of course, being limited by their stop means heretofore described.

lower porreadily understood by those Obviously many slight mechanical changes may be made in the structure shown and described without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, the underlying principles of which'will be skilled in this art from the full and complete illustration and description hereby presented. By operating the chains so that they feed the boards downwardly instead of upwardly this appliance may be readily employed as a sheet delivery mechanism, whereby when one board has received a sullicient stack of the discharged sheets, a new one can be applied to the chains above it, after which the loaded board can be removed from the machine.

I claim:

1. In a paper-pile feeder of the character described, the combination of a pair of spaced upright endless conveyers, a second pair of upright endless conveyers spaced apart less than the distance between said first pair of conveyers, means to simultaneously operate said conveyers, and a paperpile board demountably supported on said conveyers permitting the ready application of the board to and its removal from said conveyers, substantially as described.

2. In a paper-pile feeder of the character described. the combination of a pair of spaced upright endless conveyers, a second pair of upright endless conveyers spaced apartless than the distance between said 35 first pair of conveyers, means to simultato be simultaneously neously operate said conveyers, and a (plurality of paper-pile boards constructe to be simultaneously demountably supported each on all four of said conveyers permitting the ready application of either board to and its removal from said conveyers, substantially as described.

3. In a paper-pile feeder of the character described. the combination of a pair of spaced upright endless conveyers, a second pair of upright endless conveyers spaced apart less than the distance between said first pair of conveyers, power-operated means to actuate said conveyers, hand-operated means to actuate said conveyers, and a plurality of paper-pile boards constructed demountably supported in vertically-spaced relation each on all four of said conveyers permitting the ready application of either board to and its removal from the conveyers, substantially as described.

4. In a paper-pile feeder of the character described, the combination of a support, a pair of rear spaced upright endless sprocket-cha-ins, a pair of front upright endless sprocket-chains spaced apart a distance greater than that between said rear chains, sprocket-wheels for all of said chains, means to operate said sprocket-wheels and chains, and a paper pile board demountably sup orted on said chains by lugs on the boar fitting in apertures of the links of said chains, substantially as described.

EDWARD F. DUDLEY. 

